Rizzoli & Isles – Cops vs. Zombies

By: Kelly Kearney

In his week’s episode of “Rizzoli and Isles,” we find Jane and the team investigating a zombie death. That’s right, I said zombie death. Did you know “The Walking Dead,” can be murdered? Well, zombie cosplayers from Zombie-con can anyway and the team has to find this costumed walker before someone else winds up dead.

Zombie Murders, Brain Defects and Study Group

The episode opens at night with a kid named Jared, a fast talking, smart as a whip, zombie comic fan boy who witnesses two costumed men fighting outside his window. Kids like Jared (Elisha Henig) are known for their overactive imaginations, but this precocious pre-teen knows what he saw. One “dead man,” attacked and killed another and now Jane (Angie Harmon) and the team are set to solve the case. Speaking of cases… Maura (Sasha Alexander) is still concerned about the after effects of her brain bleed from the fall at Korsak’s (Bruce McGill) wedding. In true Maura “Dr. Brainiac” Isles fashion, she’s researching all the “what ifs,” of her symptoms and seems to be leaning towards a particular mental illness. Jane reminds her that she hasn’t exhibited any symptoms and she’s worrying herself over something that hasn’t and probably won’t happen. Maura looks at Jane like, “Thanks for your WebMD diagnosis Detective Rizzoli, but I’m Dr. Maura Isles and in case you’ve forgotten facts make me feel comfortable!” Maura humors the brunette cop, but her personality prevents her from not searching for every possible variable. Angela (Lorraine Bracco) is struggling with her own set of variables of the Algebraic type. It seems Angela never graduated from high school thanks to her husband’s insistence. Angela kept this secret from her family, but is now ready to go for her GED. To earn the certificate, she needs to pass Algebra. Enter Max. Max is a young GED student working with Angela as a part time study partner. Max just so happens to be a full time hydroponics pot grower who’s trying to turn his life around. Angela needs Max for Algebra, but Max needs an adult he can look up to, so who better than Mama Rizzoli?

Pick Pockets and Zombie Santa

At the scene of the murder, Jane and Maura try and determine the cause of death. Maura seems fascinated by the elaborate makeup on the dead zombie man and Jane notices he’s wearing booster pants – the type pick pockets wear. Was this a theft gone wrong? The M.E. is admiring the man’s dedication to his zombie look, but Jane’s not impressed. She tells Maura that there’s a boy who was dedicated to breaking the world record for wearing snails on his face, but that doesn’t mean she admires it. Jane’s always been good at getting a rise out of the doctor by raining on her weird parades. I think that’s a best friend thing. Anyway, while the two discuss snail facts Frankie (Jordan Bridges) is interviewing Jared and I think the detective has met his match. Jared knows his zombies, more than the average horror fan, and Frankie is impressed. He tells Frankie that he could recognize the murderer, makeup and all, if he saw them. With a zombie convention in town and a ticket found in the dead man’s pocket, Jane, Korsak and Frankie think it’s their best bet in finding possible witnesses so they head to the con. Frankie seems to be having a good time with all the shopping and the severed limb workshops but Jane…not so much. Zombies freak her out thanks to the movie The Night of the Living Dead. Korsak asks why she’s uncool with the undead and points out the cute zombie children and zombie Santa. Jane isn’t impressed and says Santa can’t be a zombie. Korsak jokingly counters, “Well, he never seems to age.” With an eye roll, Jane takes off to talk to a few convention workers. A con security guard tells them there hasn’t been any violence at the weeklong con, but there has been quite a lot of theft. There have been seven altogether, but the man doesn’t recognize the victim without his costume.

The Word of the Day IS Quitting

While Angela is ready to kick polynomials to the curb and quit her GED class, Maura is struggling with the decision to leave her job, much to Jane’s dismay. It seems the brainy M.E. continues to show signs of a congenital disease of the brain according to her assistant Kent (Adam Sinclair). He’s been watching her work and her inability to recall certain medical terms has him concerned. Maura, being a doctor, knows the effects this will have on her work and is visibly upset. Dr. Isles is a perfectionist and gives 100% to her job. Anything less and she feels like she’s letting the Boston PD down. While the two doctors are talking they figure out that the victim died from hitting the concrete sidewalk, but he also has a possible defensive wound and maybe some make up transfer. Zombie girl’s wallet had evidence of blood so that could be a DNA clue to the murderer. The two run a trace analysis report. The only person that’s not ready to quit is Jane. She figures out that the seven people at the convention had their wallets stolen and one altercation was recorded and went viral. A woman named Christine (a.k.a. zombie girl) had no idea her wallet was stolen until she woke up and found it mysteriously on her front stoop as someone returned it. When Jane shows her the video, she thought the incident was just a jerk being overly friendly. She had no idea she’d been pick pocketed. Since she was the only one out of the seven with her wallet, Jane tells her the pick pocket is dead and together with Korsak they take her in for questioning.

Secret Love Leads to Murder

At the station, Frankie and Nina (Idara Victor) are trying to hide the fact that they’re in a relationship from Jane. Being a Rizzoli is hard with a nosey mother and sister and Frankie wants to protect this new love for just a while longer. Nina is okay with that and thinks sneaking around is kind of fun. They agree to keep it quiet and Frankie heads to a zombie line up with Jared. Jared, being the smart kid he is, tells the team that the killer isn’t in the lineup and he’s extremely observant because he recognizes a zombified Frankie as the cop who interviewed him previously. The Boston P.D. should hire this kid because he puts Jane, Korsak and Frankie in their place.

After some good old police work, Jane hauls in a local pick pocket who claims he works these zombie conventions. He tells the detective that the viral video was bad for business and he saw a guy beat the victim up. He described him as having elaborate face make up similar to a burn. The trace analysis test come back showing two types of blood, no DNA match but an expensive micro skin used for burn victims. This isn’t a costume shop kind of purchase; you have to get it from the manufacturer which means they’d have an address. While searching, they ask Christine if anyone in particular stands out to her. She mentions a gardener in her building with whom she’s spoken to a couple of times. She felt bad for him because he had burn scars on his face and neck. BOOM! This could be the break they need.

Nina cross checks the address for the micro skin make up to the greenhouse employee who gardened at Christine’s building and they’re both a man named Jeremy (Hank Harris). Nina traces Jeremey’s cell phone and it pings at Christine’s apartment building. Jane confronts Jeremy at the rooftop garden and he admits that he had a crush on Christine and that she never noticed him. He thought his only chance was at the zombie con, but he witnessed the victim Kendell steal her wallet so he attacked him. He’s dangerously close to the edge of the roof, contemplating suicide, when Christine runs out to stop him. Jane and Korsak take him into custody and he’s charged with involuntary manslaughter. Jane feels bad for him because maybe this wouldn’t have happened if people hadn’t treated him like a freak all his life.

Jane Rizzoli, Jukebox Buzzkill

The show wraps up at the Dirty Robber. Angela has decided that she needs her GED about as much as Max needs a role model so the nosey mom and the pot grower decide to work together to better their lives. The study sessions are back on and Mama Rizzoli is about to start a new chapter in her life. Jane and Maura are across the bar debating makeup scars when a group of zombie con fans walk in looking for free drinks. It seems Korsak was trying to drum up business from the convention fans and handed out some coupons. In the most uncool move towards the undead Detective Rizzoli could do, she pulls the plug on their party when she literally cuts off their homage to Michael Jackson’s song “Thriller.” I guess Frankie was right – this anti-zombie feelings of Jane’s are no joke. The episode ends with groaning zombies and one very proud of herself detective.